The company told the union they were closing down if they didn't settle by Thursday evening. OK, so now 18,500 employees have no job as opposed to having a job making less. I have been in the same boat. Personally, I would rather have the job even if my pay was less and benefits cut. Where are these people going to find work now? Having been in a union and also having been salaried, this is one of the reasons I am anti union.

If they couldn't pay their workers a fair pay, they may as well go out of business.

On a funnier note: has anyone seen Blue Man Group and their bit with unwrapping Twinkies? I wonder how the convo is at Blue Man Group HQ right now... "Crap!! Stock up til we can bring 'em in from Canada!"

Shame, the Teamsters actually wanted the Bakers' Union to accept the contract. I was in a union once where the head of our union gave us a bum steer, and we all blindly followed. I also remember right before our plant shut down everyone in the shop union kept saying management was just playing games and the company would never shut down. I was the executive assistant to the president of the company at the time and knew just how bad of shape the company was in. Times change. Never say never.

I think they were calling Hostess' bluff, and they were actually on the verge of bankruptcy.

I never liked any of the Hostess stuff, including Wonderbread. *shrug* But I do feel bad for the 18500 workers that really had no choice over what their union was doing, and are now jobless over it. I can totally relate to losing your job over something completely out of your control.

FWIW I've heard that the union made this decision because the company would have soon gone out of business anyway, and accepting a lower salary from Hostess would have decreased resulted in other companies lowering pay for similar jobs across the board.

The company told the union they were closing down if they didn't settle by Thursday evening. OK, so now 18,500 employees have no job as opposed to having a job making less. I have been in the same boat. Personally, I would rather have the job even if my pay was less and benefits cut. Where are these people going to find work now? Having been in a union and also having been salaried, this is one of the reasons I am anti union.

Originally Posted by munchkin

Hostess was going down and those jobs were going away no matter what. This has less to do with unions and more to do with the fact that people just don't eat that crap like they used to. Thank god!

They tried healthier offerings to boost business. It didn't work. Not surprisingly, a company that makes fake, sugary, unhealthy "food" doesn't know how to make healthy food options that taste good and people want to buy.

before blaming the unions please check into the company's past. the first time they filed bankruptcy the unions agreed to cut benefits. debt was racked up by the hedge fund guys then the investors drained the cash out and wants the employees to bear the costs. While the company was filing for bankruptcy, for the second time, earlier this year, it actually tripled its CEO’s pay, and increased other executives’ compensation by as much as 80 percent. they knew their business model was going down the drain so theyre squeezing every dollar out of it. they can still reap profits by wiping out the pension plans selling off their brands.

This is Bain capitalism. Romney and his cronies has perfected this business model. Companies will do whatever necessary to maximize the bottom line. They will never care about the average worker.

Heres how Bain capitalism works. Bain is a private equity firm. They borrow money to buy a troubled company. They borrow more money to spruce it up and cook the books. Then they sell it at a tidy profit when they know it will collapse in the future. because of a tax loophole Romney receives what is effectively a salary without paying the ordinary 35% income tax rates that an average person would have to pay on such income. He only pays 15%. This is why he refuses to release his tax returns. This is also why he stated that he would eliminate capital gains(money earned from investments) tax if he was elected president.

I just don't understand why/how it's legal for these "venture capitalists" to rape these company pension plans. Shouldn't pension plans be legally protected? I mean...Republicans talk about people taking care of themselves...these employees WERE taking care of themselves, by working for a company with a pension plan. And now they're f*cked.

And now they will have to rely on an ever-decreasing social security "hand out" to survive their retirements, and they'll be held in contempt by Republicans for "not taking care of themselves".

this is the new business model. its been implemented since the 80's. gone are pensions and unions. here to stay are temps and part time. unskilled labor will make between minimum to 15$ per hour max. Even during the Republican primary Newt, Rick Perry and others slammed Mitt for being a 'vulture capitalist'. Destroying companies and lives. Short term profit is all they care about. Ofcourse its all legal